Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/741

 REVIEWS 717

mechanical memorization, required during the formative period to learn the thousands of Chinese ideographs. Another treatment is that of Japanese politeness, which 'is rightly proverbial, since it shows not only in details of everyday routine, but in the very structure of the language, where it has precluded the development of personal pro- nouns. Mr. P. Lowell and others have attributed this politeness to the "impersonality" of the Japanese, whereas our author holds that "minute etiquette is the lubricant of a feudal social order," and points out that, did it depend on an inherent quality like impersonality, it would not under the new industrialism of Japan have so much declined. Another treatment is accorded philosophical ability, which foreigners have generally denied to the Japanese, but which our author credits to them on various grounds. The Japanese themselves point in proof to the rapidity and ease with which they discarded their superstitions, and to the rapid spread of rationalism in its place. Moreover, they first took great interest in the subtle metaphysics of Buddhism, and then generally abandoned it in favor of the Chinese system of Chu Hi. Japanese students abroad have won laurels in philosophy, and those at home reveal no deficiency to their foreign instructors, as the present reviewer, after six years of such work in the Dashisha College, Kyoto, can also testify. Here Mr. Gulick administers a warning to all critics so salutary that it deserves transcribing :

In discussing Japanese philosophical ability, a point often forgotten is the rarity of philosophical ability or even interest in the West. But a small pro- portion of college students show the slightest interest in philosophical or metaphysical problems. The majority do not even understand what the distinctive metaphysical problems are. In my experience it is easier to enter into a conversation with an educated man in Japan on a philosophical ques- tion than with an American. If interest in philosophical and metaphysical questions in the West is rare, original ability in their investigation is still rarer.

The obvious conclusion is that the Japanese show no marked racial trait in this sphere. The same result appears from a survey of recent Japanese originality in science. The Murata rifle, with which the Japanese army is equipped, is the invention of a Japanese, and was further improved by Colonel Arisaka in 1897, while the smokeless powder used was invented by Mr. Shimose. The German bacteriolo- gist, Dr. Behring, must freely share his laurels with his collaborator, the Japanese Dr. Kitasato, and the distinction of isolating the active principle in adrenalin, now the most powerful astringent known, fell to Dr. Takamine after European and American chemists had vainly